NCCSD Videos

In 2017 NCCSD held a competition for students to submit creative videos that express the disability experience for college students. On this page are the three winners of the competition. We applaud these student filmmakers for their excellent work and impactful messages, and wish them success in their future artistic endeavors.

We offer these videos for individual, group or class viewing, and include Discussion Guides for each to get you thinking and talking about disability in higher education. Disability Services and other college departments are free to use these videos for "Disability Awareness" events and other uses.

The videos open in YouTube and ads have been blocked; if an ad does appear, you can remove it by clicking on the X in the ad itself. Please contact NCCSD if you need assistance with these or to give your feedback on them.

Day by Day: Artists with Disabilities at Tufts

"Day by Day" is a short documentary about the experiences of artists living with disabilities who attend school at Tufts University. We talked with six artists over the course of a month, seeing their work and hearing their stories. The film was created by Ray Bernoff and Benjamin Hosking in collaboration with Tufts Film and Media Studies and Student Accessibility Services.

Ben and Ray both identify as students with disabilities. Ben is now a graduate who has previously directed and produced narrative shorts, and Ray is a senior who has worked on documentaries and narrative shorts in a variety of roles.

Watch "Day by Day"(open-captioned; click full screen for best viewing)

The Colors of Chronic Illness

"The Colors of Chronic Illness" is a short film taking a close look at the views of three 'silent sufferers'. The three women interviewed in the film suffer from various illnesses and have unique outlooks on life due to their experiences. The video illustrates that chronic illness is more prevalent than the public may believe, and that people who suffer from these illnesses live among us, sometimes unnoticed. The intrinsic message of the film is that no disability is too great that it cannot be overcome.

I am a student at Temple University studying film production with the hopes of gaining a career in the field of either narrative fiction or documentary filmmaking. I was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome when I was eleven and have been alternatively battling and managing this condition ever since. I was inspired to create this film one night when I was at a low point health wise and happened to pass by a ribbon awareness board my resident advisor had posted on my floor. Although my illness was not specifically listed on the board, chronic fatigue syndrome was; this was close enough for me to become very touched by the simple act. I started to wonder if I wasn't the only one who had been affected by it and I soon started to reach out through social media to find other students with chronic illnesses who would be interested in interviewing on camera.

Watch "The Colors of Chronic Illness"(click CC button for captions; choose full screen for best viewing)

Underneath Makeup & Masks

Most broadly, the concept that I chose to convey in my project was that of invisible disabilities. Invisible disabilities are not easily understood by others, persons with such disabilities often seem to pass as “normal,” whether or not by choice, and there are many layers to these experiences and individuals. Just as a person may put on makeup to conceal a blemish on one layer of the self, they may say something or behave in a certain way to mask other layers of the self, including layers of disability. By opening with the chosen quotes, it allows viewers to come to the general premise of what topic will be explored and, in a sense, sets the scene for the more the more artistic and personal aspects of the project. Using background music, “Underneath,” I wanted to compliment the message that the depths of a person goes far beyond those layers of looks and performance that a person chooses to portray. While I could go on for pages about what the project means to me, how the chosen quotes, words, images, and motions might be broadly and specifically interpreted, I would prefer that the video speak for itself.

The project “Underneath Makeup & Masks” was created autumn semester of 2016 for English 4597. This course, Disability in the Contemporary World, was led by Professor Margaret Price. As the final project for this class, we each created a “Concept in 60.” The goal of these “Concept in 60” assignments were to take any concept brought up throughout the semester and explore it through the creation of a multimedia project limited to sixty seconds. I greatly appreciate my professor and peers for creating an open classroom environment full of discussion that allowed us to learn not only from the literature, but from one another’s ideas and experiences. They helped inspire me in making this project, and supported with feedback during the development of my initial class project. Once I chose a topic and began working, I became very passionate about my project, thus putting great deal of time and effort into it. Therefore when Professor Price expressed that she was able to see that time and effort, she was impressed with it, and encouraged me to submit my video for others to see, my excitement and confidence in the product only grew. So, with much appreciated consultation and support from Professor Price, I have edited and extended the project to further enhance artistic and academic vision.

The NCCSD is based with the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD). Please see caveats on the home page about assuming the NCCSD, AHEAD or the US Dept. of Education agree with all content on linked pages, and we can't guarantee the accessibility of other sites.

All images are from Bigstock.com or public domain except where noted. The material on this website is available in alternative formats upon request. Questions, concerns or requests about accessibility should be sent to nccsd@ahead.org.